The Age of the Koopas
by Anonymous Uke
Summary: Deep beneath the sands, the forces of evil have uncovered the catalyst to a dark prophecy. Will Mario and company be caught unaware? Will they be able to stop Bowser's most nefarious plot of all?


Hey, folks! Just trying my hand at something new! Please let me know what ya think! All property belongs to Nintendo. Nothing is original intellectual property except the plot. Information on all places/characters can be found on the Super Mario Wiki.

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Somewhere, at the far reaches of the Kalimari Desert, on the very edge of the Mushroom Kingdom, a dark plan unfolds. The desert is cold and lonely. Only the howl of the midnight winds can be heard for miles. A beacon of light juts from the ocean of darkness. The source of light is an excavation sight. A small army of Shy Guys and Snifits has dug a titanic hole straight down into the sand. With massive mining machines, they burrow ever deeper in search of… something.

In a watch tower high above the dig site, General Guy sits at a desk, reviewing blueprints of some sort. On his left lie a few broken artifacts collected from the dig site. He is flanked by two black Shy Guys wearing spiked shoulder pads.

 **General Guy [Whispering to himself]** : "Where are you?"

Suddenly, the phone sitting on his desk rings.

 **General Guy** : "Who in the Underwhere?"

He picks up the phone.

"General Guy."

…

"No, we have not found anything yet."

…

"What more do you want?! I've tripled my man power on this project! We're getting nowhere!"

…

"Well, you can tell King Koopa that if he wants his precious 'forbidden treasure' so bad, he can come get it himself. We're working as fast as we can."

…

"What do you mean, 'You'll be here in five minutes.'?"

…

"*sigh* Alright. General Guy out."

General Guy slowly lowers the phone from his face. After a moment of silence, he slams it on the desk, startling his body guards.

 **Body Guard 1** : "Uh, is there a problem?"

 **General Guy** : "Wario is coming here. Tonight."

 **Body Guard 2** : "What?! Why?!"

 **General Guy** : "He says he's coming to 'motivate' the workers, which is of course code for threaten and terrorize.

As expected, a very fancy purple car with a jagged moustache on the grill and an obtuse "W" on the hood haphazardly bulldozes into the dig site, kicking up a miniature sandstorm. A number of workers barely manage to jump out of the way. The rear passenger's side door opens, and a green genie shoe hits the sand. Wario steps out of the car, followed by Kat and Ana. Kat is carrying a metal briefcase. The three ascend the watch tower. The door to General Guy's office bursts open, and Wario barges in.

 **General Guy** : "You know, you could just knock."

 **Wario** : "Whatever. Have you found any sign of an ancient civilization? A temple? Anything?"

 **General Guy** : "Well, we have these broken pieces of junk over here, but I highly doubt that they're of any value."

General guy gestures toward the broken artifact collection. Wario's eyes gleam at the sight.

 **Wario** : "A key…"

Wario steps over and begins to rearrange the pieces. General Guy watches intently. They fit together like a puzzle, forming a perfect circle.

 **General Guy** : "How did I not see it before?"

Once the pieces are correctly aligned, they begin to glow brightly. General Guy covers his face. Wario's gaze is fixed, a huge grin adorning his face. When the glow fades away, the pieces have fused into a single runic medallion. Kat steps forward and opens briefcase, revealing six similar but unique medallions. Wario places the seventh medallion into the briefcase. General Guy notices, however, that there is an eighth empty slot.

 **General Guy** : "Where is the final piece?"

 **Wario** : "That is none of your concern."

Before General Guy can respond, a Snifit rushes into the room. He takes a moment to catch his breath.

 **Snifit** : "Boss, come quick! We found a door!"

 **Wario** : "WHAT?!"

Wario barges past the Snifit. General Guy and his body guards quickly follow. The party descends into the hole. It takes them some time to reach the bottom. Surely enough, a massive temple door has been uncovered. Arranged in octagonal fashion are eight circular indentions the exact size of the medallions. To Wario's delight, the final medallion is already in the door.

Suddenly, Kat's briefcase begins to shake violently. The seven empty slots on the temple door begin to glow. A light shines through the cracks of the briefcase.

 **Kat** : "Boss?!"

 **Wario** : "Open it."

Kat braces herself before opening the briefcase. The seven medallions fly into the key slots. Once all eight medallions are in place, they each light up a different color. They begin to turn, the lines on each aligning with lines on the door to create a picture. Once they all come to a stop, the picture lines light up.

 **Wario** : "The Prophecy…"

 **General Guy** : "It can't be…"

There, on the great door before them, is a mural of a powerful entity rising from a vase. Knelt before the entity is the image of a great Koopa. The entity is bestowing a dark blessing upon the Koopa, granting him power and wealth and glory. The mural finally fades. The ground begins to rumble violently as the mighty door lowers into the sand, opening the way into the temple. A powerful and dark presence fills the air as ghastly whispers resound all around the excavators. The Shy Guys and Snifits flee in terror. Wario, however, is undaunted. He enters the temple. General Guy reluctantly follows.

The party lights torches and travels deep into the grand structure. It is dark, dank, and entirely terrifying. Grim paintings of sacrificial practices, executions, and the Underwhere line the walls. They come to a bridge passing over a seemingly bottomless chasm. Wario marches on without fear. General Guy and his bodyguards are mortified. Finally, the party comes to a large circular chamber. On a pedestal in the center of the chamber sits a vase. On the wall behind the vase is giant, menacing mask. A dark aura emanates from the vase. It gives off a ghoulish hum. The same maddening whispers from before fill this chamber. Wario haphazardly begins to approach the vase.

 **General Guy** : "Wario, what are you doing?!"

Wario abruptly spins around and grabs General guy by the collar, lifting him off the ground. His body guards attempt to intervene, but Kat and Ana draw their blades and point them right at the bodyguards' foreheads.

 **Ana** : "I wouldn't."

 **Wario** : "Do you know what this is?! This is our best chance to defeat the Mario Brothers forever! King Koopa will rule this world, and we shall be given nations! This is my golden parachute, and no one is going to take that away from me!"

Wario throws General Guy to the ground. He approaches the vase and picks it up. The whispering and humming ceases. He turns back around and looks at the party.

 **Wario** : "See? Now what was so dangerous about that?"

A brief flash of light comes from behind Wario. He quickly turns around, scanning the room. He feels like something is missing.

 **Wario** : "Wasn't there a giant mask on the wall?"

Something can be heard whooshing around the room. The party puts their backs to one another.

 **Bodyguard 1** : "What in the Underwhere was that?!"

The mask off the wall slowly lowers in the middle of everyone. One of black Shy Guys turns around to have the mask staring him right in the face. He is paralyzed with fear. Suddenly, the mask's eyes light up as it unleashes a scream only heard in nightmares. The mask begins to suck the Shy Guy's soul out. The rest of the party screams and begins to run. Once the mask is done, the Shy Guy's hollow cloak and mask slump to the floor. The mask immediately begins to pursue the others.

The party reaches the bridge again. The mask swoops in, knocking the other body guard off the bridge and into the abyss below. As they continue to flee, the temple begins to shake and rumble. Stone are shaken loose. The temple is crumbling.

 **Kat** : "Boss! It's going to come down on top of us!"

 **Wario** : "Keep going! I can see the exit!"

The light from the excavation site can be seen in the distance. General Guy cannot keep up. Suddenly, Wario turns around and shoulder charges General Guy, knocking him a ways back. He then resumes fleeing. General Guy grunts, stumbling to his feet.

 **General Guy** : "YOU TRAITOR! WE WERE IN THIS TOGETHER!"

 **Wario** : "Don't worry! I'll carve your name on a toy box! WAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Wario, Kat, and Anna escape the temple just before it collapses. General Guy covers his head, but nothing falls on him. He slowly lifts his head, but all he can see is utter darkness. He feels the air in front of him displace. He lets out a pitiful whimper. The eyes light up


End file.
